Archive for July, 2011

Noted.

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

I saw magazines for these a couple of weeks ago, while I was out shopping, and said to myself, “Hmmmm. I didn’t realize there was such a thing.”

But it does explain why H&K was suing GSG.

The H&K MP5 A5 and MP5 SD in .22 LR.

Since I haven’t seen one for sale yet, I can’t comment on the price (and I didn’t notice what the magazines were going for).  But I expect them to be more expensive than the GSG guns, because you suck and H&K hates you.

All apologies.

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

I feel bad about this, especially since some folks like South Texas Pistolero apparently think I’m worth reading. (Thank you, sir.) But there’s just not a lot going on right now that’s worth blogging about. I blame the heat. And the vertical integration of the broiler industry.

I guess I could point to yet another reason to carry your damn guns, people!

Or yet another example of the police being indistinguishable from armed thugs.

Or I could put up a nifty photo of myself in one of Sean Sorrentino’s “Project Gunwalker” shirts, which he’s reopened orders for (and which you can now get with a pocket, even) but I haven’t picked up mine from the PO Box yet.

I could also ask what kind of fascist country we’re living in, when a judge expresses doubts about the credibility of an accused murderer.

I suppose I could also ask if it’s actually legal for mariachi bands to collude over the fees they charge; doesn’t that strike folks as being a violation of anti-trust law?

I’ve got a post I’m working on about the egg roll problem, but I’m still doing research on that.

The good news is, we’re only a week away from DEFCON 19, which I do plan on blogging. In that vein, if anyone has recommendations for places to eat in Las Vegas, please drop me an email or leave them in the comments. A trip to Lotus of Siam is required, of course, but I’m looking for something to eat on the other four nights I’ll be there.

Edited to add: Hey, while I’m thinking of it, I do want to point folks to this discussion at Battleswarm. I haven’t had a lot to say about Breivik, mostly because other smarter bloggers are saying it all. But for some reason I’m awfully darn curious about his weaponry; I think maybe because the gun in that photo is so blinged up I wouldn’t be shocked to find out that it’s identical to the ones carried by Food Court Team Six.

Your City of Bell update.

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

The city decided to part ways with Pedro Carrillo as he proposed a tough new set of budget cuts aimed at holding off insolvency, including leaving executive positions unfilled, eliminating the three highest-ranking police officers in the city and requiring employees to pay for half of their retirement.

(I know the linked article makes it sound like his contract expired. But this article calls it a resignation, and includes his resignation letter.)

You know what Mexico needs?

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

(This is taken mostly verbatim from a conversation with Lawrence.)

  • Law and order
  • Paved roads
  • A lack of a drug war
  • Better sushi
  • Big-budget movies with lots of special effects
  • A better economy
  • Crime writers
  • Crime writers who haven’t been executed by cartels
  • A gun in every home
  • Stronger gun control…in the prisons.

Doug Winner, call your office, please.

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

Emmis Communications owns a bunch of Austin radio stations. Their holdings include KGSR, which specializes in local and Texas music, news talk station KLBJ, and KROX-FM (aka 101X).

Emmis just paid the FCC $12,000 to settle accusations that KROX-FM was involved in a “payola” scheme…

…that netted one of its hosts “valuable consideration” from a music store, a live music venue, a booking agent and a band manager.

The Statesman story is curiously short on details about the host, music store, live music venue, booking agent, and band manager who were involved. A Google search didn’t turn up much more information, but it did turn up a copy of the consent decree.

(Hattip.)

A tip of the hat.

Friday, July 22nd, 2011

By way of Jimbo, we’ve learned that Vincent A. Musetto has retired after 40 years at the New York Post.

Mr. Musetto was the Post film editor when he retired. But he is most famous for a headline he composed in 1982 1983. That’s right, Mr. Musetto is the man who came up with this:

As noted in the linked article, Mr. Musetto’s personal favorite of his headlines was “Granny Executed in Her Pink Pajamas”.

We wish Mr. Musetto a happy retirement, and all the best in any future endeavors he embarks upon.

Edited to add: P.S.: The happy decapitator, Charles Dingle, is apparently still in prison. Mr. Dingle denies any involvement in the rape/robbery/beheading spree for which he was convicted.

The (Double) Eagle has flown the coop.

Thursday, July 21st, 2011

We previously noted the strange legal saga involving the Federal Government and ten 1933 $20 U.S. gold coins.

(Since that time, we have also read Alison Frankel’s Double Eagle: The Epic Story of the World’s Most Valuable Coin and we think it is a better book than David Tripp’s Illegal Tender: Gold, Greed, and the Mystery of the Lost 1933 Double Eagle. But we digress.)

By way of FARK, we have now learned that a Philadelphia jury has found in favor of the Government. Here’s coverage from the WSJ Law Blog, and here’s coverage from the Inky.

As we noted at the time, this seemed like a case that couldn’t be won, given the events of 2002 and the attendant publicity. We are not displeased to see our prediction come true, though we will be sad if the Treasury ends up destroying the coins. At the same time, though, we suspect this is not the end of the story, and that this case will probably end up in front of Dianna Ross and the Supremes. Watch this space for updates.

Edited to add: We wish we had thought of this sooner. Here’s the story from “Coin World”, which appears to have been covering the trial in detail judging from the other links.

With apologies to Solomon Linda and The Evening Birds, The Tokens, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

In the App Store,
the Apple App Store,
the Lion ships tonight.

(I actually don’t care that much. I’m planning to wait on Lion.1 at least, maybe Lion.2. But Lawrence and I were chatting earlier today and that riff came to me; it’s the kind of thing you only get to use maybe once in a lifetime.)

(This is kind of interesting. Especially for $5.99. I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet, but I have downloaded it: this BBC documentary sounds like it could be worthwhile. Download link.)

Lonesome Roads.

Monday, July 18th, 2011

The Texas Department of Transportation has been building a couple of additional “flyover” connections down south of town; specifically, at the intersection of Loop 1 (also known locally as “MoPac”) and U.S. Highway 290.

Unfortunately, TXDOT contracted with Wiser Construction,  a company based in Nevada. (The Statesman says Wiser is based in Las Vegas, but all the business addresses I found for them are in Moapa, which is about 55 miles away according to Google Maps.)

Why is that unfortunate? Because Wiser Construction declared bankruptcy last week and walked off the job, leaving the flyovers uncompleted. (A search of the two Las Vegas newspapers turned up nothing about this bankruptcy.)

Edited to add 7/19: Here’s a link to another Statesman story. If you look at both that story, and the blog post I linked to yesterday, neither one currently contains any mention of bankruptcy. (The Statesman blog post appears to have been revised sometime after my original post.)

A bond insurance company informed TxDOT’s Austin office Monday in a letter that Wiser Construction Co. would not complete the $8.4 million job, said Tim Weight, TxDOT’s Austin district director of construction. The letter did not explain why the Las Vegas company was quitting the project, Weight said.

However, this story from KUVE still refers to the contractor’s bankruptcy.

News roundup.

Friday, July 15th, 2011

By way of our good friend James, we have learned that CNN did a story on Texans purchasing guns to prepare for uncertain economic times. Ordinarily, we probably wouldn’t have said anything about this piece, but the gun shop profiled is Tex-Guns, the official purveyor of fine weapons to WCD.

And the NYT has discovered the Snake Farm on I-35. This is a place that we have not been to yet, but we keep threatening to load up the car and take our nephews there. Perhaps we will arrange that in the next couple of weeks.

Wanna buy a house?

Thursday, July 14th, 2011

Three bedrooms. “Semi-detached”. Conveniently located within walking distance of shopping.

In the interest of honesty, there are some…issues…to keep in mind.

  • The previous owner didn’t do a lot of work on the house; it sounds like a bit of a fixer-upper.
  • The asking price is 320,000 British pounds, which at current exchange rates translates to $515,968. That sounds high for a fixer-upper, but you might be able to talk the sellers down.
  • The house is in England, which may be an advantage for some folks.

And the prestige of being able to say, “Oh, yes, I’m the new owner of the old JG Ballard place” doesn’t have a price.

Happy Bastille Day, everyone!

Thursday, July 14th, 2011

I’m avoiding the temptation to make cheap jokes about the French this year, especially after spending much of last winter immersed in the French Revolution.

Instead, here’s a link to what purports to be Julia Child’s Beef Bourguignon recipe. I have not tried this, but I would like to: the last time I cooked Beef Bourguignon, I used a recipe from Cooks Illustrated, which is behind a paywall.

Here’s what the site of the Bastille looks like today.

And here’s a kind of neat article from yesterday’s Statesman about a French bistro in Lakeway that has an annual Bastille Day fest.

I got to thinking: hey, what’s the French Legation doing today that I’m going to have to miss, being stuck here at work? The answer is: actually, the French Legation is having their Bastille Day observance on Saturday.

Edited to add: By way of Lawrence, Jerry Pournelle on Bastille Day. I think there’s an argument to be made that the significance of the fall of the Bastille has less to do with the actual prisoners and the release of same, and more to do with the fact that the fall of the Bastille put guns and ammunition into the hands of people revolting against a tyrannical government. Indeed, I made that argument to a certain extent last winter, and boy do I wish I could reproduce that discussion here. (Sadly, it is behind the university’s Blackboard system.)